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Robby Krieger

If you are a classic rock fan, we don’t have to tell you that Robby Krieger is a founding member of The Doors and is featured in Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list. RK was a driving force behind the band’s success, writing songs like “Light My Fire,” “Love Me Two Times,” “Touch Me,” and “Love Her Madly” and his work for subsequent bands, including the Robby Krieger Fusion Band has shown his grow even further as a musical artist.

The Mac Wire will be out in full force for Robby’s show with who The Les Paul Trio on Monday, October 3rd at 8 PM. We checked out this exact same show last year at this time and it was supercool to check out Robby playing on Les Paul classics like “How High The Moon.”

You have a lot of chanced to catch Robby at the Iridium right now since tonight (9-30) he starts his five-day stint there (the first three nights are just with the Robby Krieger Fusion Band but you can bet that a couple of unannounced musical guests will be sitting in). Of course, you get to hear a lot of the ace axeman’s work from The Doors in extended versions, and the sound of his Gibson SG is a rock and roll legend in itself.

Tickets can be purchased at the Iridium door, but we suggest buying them ahead of time at www.theiridium.com and arriving early (6:30 or 7) for a good table. The club, located at 1650 Broadway (at 51st Street in NYC) is intimate, so all tables are good, but we admit that we like to be right up against the stage so we can shout out song requests after we’ve kicked back a few cocktails! Also be sure to “like” the Iridium’s official FB page: http://www.facebook.com/iridiumjazzclub

We were lucky enough to visit the fabulous Iridium Jazz Club at 50th and Broadway last night to check out Robby Krieger with the Les Paul Trio. As you know, for many years Les Paul performed there on Monday nights (and prior to that, he had a decades-long residency at the now defunct Fat Tuesday’s). Those in the know know that famous rockers and jazzmen sit in on Monday nights and everyone from Jeff Beck to Eric Clapton and back again came in to play with guitar innovator/”granddaddy or rock and roll” Les Paul.

Last night’s show started off with the Les Paul trio doing their fine tribute to their former boos, and they of course played his biggest hit, “How High The Moon” (no Monday night at the Iridium is complete without it)! When Robby Krieger took the stage, he started off his set with the unexpected “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” (instrumental version) and then moved into “Georgia,” which was the first song he ever played with Les Paul when they helped open the House Of Blues in LA together in 1994. RK then played what he calls “the first song I ever wrote”–the now legendary “Light My Fire”–and brought up his (not surprisingly) rather Morrisonesque singer from the Evan Marshall Band! The devilishly handsome Evan Marshall was sporting side lace up pants a la the Lizard King as he belted out the Doors classic. The high point of the set (at least for us here at themacwire.com) was “Road House Blues.” There were some other Doors “fan faves” in there including “Spanish Caravan,” but RK varies them from set to set–and our one regret last night is that we didn’t have the energy after a long deadline day to stay for the second set, which included the legendary and mysterious axeman, Steve Miller.

We must say also that being our first trip tot he Iridium, we were impressed by the intimate setting which seems to seat less than 200 people and the fabulous acoustics (and thanks to proprietor Ron Sturm for showing up around and making sure we were taken care of in terms of getting to “meet and greet” with the star of the evening). Did we fail to mention that the food is several cuts above what many of the other new York live music clubs serve? Anyway, we will be going back soon to check out more guitar greats soon!—Anne M. Raso